After my resume was submitted by a recruiter, I was given a relatively simple programming assignment to complete. It took me about an hour to write the code, and my recruiter sent the finished project to Bwater for review. Feedback from Bwater was positive, and I was scheduled for a phone screen shortly thereafter.
In preparation for the phone screen, I read Ray Dalio's "Principles", which I found very compelling and similar to my own world view. I was very excited about the prospect of working for a company that seemed to truly share my values.
The phone screen began quite unexpectedly. I was more than a little surprised that a company that seems to take such pride in their work would call me seven minutes late. Noting that, I happily acquiesced to having the conversation recorded.
I was first asked about my experience and how my role fits the mission of my company. I gave a brief overview and we moved on. My interviewer was polite (and even cordial) on the surface, but was not expressing his opinions about my responses to his questions (which seemed to be to be in contradiction to Ray's principles). He then gave me a technical problem to solve, which I did comfortably while discussing the runtime complexity and other factors. We went into some depth about my experience, including why I made certain choices in software design. He then asked me about the type of role I was seeking, and beyond strictly software development roles, I was not familiar with specific roles in the finance industry and asked for some clarification regarding those. I believe this negatively affected my candidacy in his mind, although he was not transparent about this, and made no effort to find common ground to judge where I would best fit the organization. Again, in apparent contrast to Ray's principles.
Finally, I asked him only one question: how closely Bwater follows Ray's principles. His answer gave me the impression that the principles are not followed very closely in practice. This is a shame, as I believe that those principles, if effectively applied, can have very positive effects on a company's culture and profitability.
I got the impression that working for this company, and assuming that the principles would be adhered to, would only lead to constant frustration and unhappiness. This is why I was actually relieved to hear that Bwater was not interested in moving forward.
I believe Bwater would benefit from a more consistent application of the Principles in the hiring and promotion of its employees. But then, it is possible that Ray simply outclasses his employees, and quality control may be more difficult in a company of 1200 employees. Or maybe not.
